By Kari-rose Aston
In the early morning hours of February 9, 2023, Andrew was cycling to his job at the Surrey YMCA. It was dark and slightly foggy outside with some moisture in the air. Around 5:45 a.m. he stopped at a red light near the Surrey RCMP Station. When the light turned green, his life changed forever.
"I started going and this car, I guess it didn't see me, turned left into me," Andrew recalls. "I went up onto the hood, smashed into the windshield, and fell off. I was laying on the pavement in pain."
A Surrey RCMP officer who witnessed the event took control of the scene. Firefighters soon arrived, followed by BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) paramedics. Andrew recalls the relief he felt when he heard the ambulance sirens approaching. The primary care paramedics (PCP) checked him for spinal injuries and then helped him onto the stretcher. Andrew had dislocated his left shoulder and had significant scrapes and bruising. The crew took care while transporting Andrew along the uneven drive to Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Andrew Griffith at Surrey Memorial Hospital after his bike accident
While waiting to be transferred to a hospital bed, Andrew mentioned to PCP Debbie Marshall (Reid) that he was looking to make a career change. “I didn't really know what I wanted to do, aside from the current job I had [as a fitness team lead at the YMCA]. I was just kind of feeling my way around,” Andrew says.
He mentioned to Debbie that he had experience working as a care aide and a licensed practical nurse in long-term care in the United States and expressed an interest in entering the health-care field again.
Hearing this, Debbie jumped at the opportunity, “If anybody expresses an interest in being a paramedic, I usually tell them it’s one of the greatest jobs in the world.” She told him about some of the recent hiring incentives, including paid Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)-to-PCP training. “I said ‘If it’s something you’re legitimately leaning towards, now is the time to do it! There’s a lot of hiring going on and it’s a pretty cool job.’”
The lightbulb went off for Andrew when Debbie said, “you know you can do your PCP.” He thought about how comforted he had felt when he was laying on the pavement and heard the ambulance sirens approaching.
“It was kind of comforting, and I realized that I kind of want to be one of those people – to be that relief when people call [911].”
In that moment, Andrew decided to pursue a career in paramedicine.
Four months after the accident, Andrew completed his Emergency Medical Responder training and was registered for the Columbia Paramedic Academy’s Primary Care Paramedic Program by fall. His last day of PCP school was February 8, 2024.
“Basically, a year to the day that I was hit by the car I graduated,” Andrew recounts.
Now a paramedic himself, Andrew reflects on a small act of kindness that February morning. During transport, Debbie asked for Andrew’s permission to cut his jacket to assess his shoulder.
“I was like: ‘I really love this hoodie I'm wearing,’ even though I was just hit by a car in it,” Andrew laughs. Instead of cutting his hoodie, Debbie helped him to pull it off, “I hate cutting people’s clothes,” says Debbie, recalling this interaction. "I often give [patients] that opportunity if it’s not going to have a negative effect.”
“I definitely appreciated that little extra effort,” reflects Andrew.
Given his unusual entry into paramedicine, Andrew strives to bring this same thoughtful approach to his patients. He recalls recently bringing firewood inside for an elderly patient.
“Those small things really have an impact. It goes beyond emergency care—it's setting people up to help care for themselves too. Supporting them in whatever way to help them physically as well as mentally.”
Debbie agrees that every patient interaction is an opportunity to make a difference in their day-to-day life. Debbie considers this an honour: “We're not out there wearing capes and saving lives every day. We aren't—that's the dream when we go into it, but the reality is it's the little things that you can do to try to make a crappy situation a little bit better.”
Andrew has been a PCP with BCEHS since May 2024. He recently completed his onboard training and is now based out of Station 240 Burnaby. Assigned to the Fraser Central District, Andrew also works shifts at Station 249 Surrey—the same station that Debbie and her partner, PCP Shannon Sweetman, responded from that February morning.
Shannon continues to work as a primary care paramedic at Station 249 Surrey, while Debbie recently moved into a new role with the Clinical Hub, working as a Secondary Triage Clinician, assisting patients with less urgent health needs over the phone in Vancouver Dispatch Operation Centre.
Debbie Marshall, Secondary Triage Clinician, Clinical Hub
Upon learning that Andrew has gone from patient to colleague, Debbie says she couldn’t be prouder. “He mentioned an interest in [paramedicine] and followed his passion, and I was glad to facilitate that in some small way. He put his nose down and he was able to do that—I think that's super cool. Good for him.”
